Jumping and Kids

heavenstears · #1 2nd June 2012, 05:00 PM

My boxer Sadie will be 1 on June 29. I have been taking her to a new dog park in my area. She does GREAT with the other dogs, she loves playing with them. My problem is with her Jumping. Normally the adults dont mind, but lately people have been allowing their small children in the play area with the dogs, I say as young as 3. Sadie jumps all over these kids, sometimes knocking them to the ground. How do I break this habit of Jumping especially at children, the parents are getting mad, but in my opinion the kids shouldnt even be in the park, actually one of the rules is small children are discouraged. Does anyone have any training tips to break the jumping?

ouesi · #2 4th June 2012, 09:40 AM

Its going to take some work, but you can teach the dog that a kid standing still with arms crosses is a cue to sit. The video below is geared towards the dog in the home with children family members, but you can keep working on it and extend the exercise to all kids. Its basically a default sit. The only way to get it solid is lots of proofing and lots of practice. Maybe you could get the kids in the park to play along?

This is what it looks like on leash with a boxer-sized dog:

Hmmm... trying to link youtube videos to no avail...
well, if you search “go crazy freeze” on youtube, the two videos that come up are demos of this. One with a merle dane, one with a black boxer mutt.

elgerdes · #3 7th June 2012, 10:35 AM

This is just me: but I would tell the parents to either A) get over it. Or B) don't bring their kids. Our DP has the same rule, yet people continue to ignore that rule. I have had people get upset about Zoe being just a bulldozer knocking over kids. I apologize and give her the "off" command. But to be honest, it's a DOG PARK. For DOGS. People need to get over it. So my stand is, train your pup (because it's just good sense) but stand up for your dog.

Gatorblu · #4 7th June 2012, 02:23 PM

I don't think I have ever been to a dog park that allowed children under the age of 12. If the parents complain, tell them to take their child over to the playground for kids where they belong. There are too few areas for dogs to be just dogs and for someone to infringe by bringing small children in just wrong. I know I was at one dog park and someone came in with a toddler and a group of people told them they needed to leave for the child's safety. You don't put a child on a race track and you don't put them in the path of speeding dogs. Not to mention some dogs are protective of their kids and some of the other dogs may love kids and want to say hello and a fight can start right there next to the child. It is just not safe.

As for training your dog not to jump it is best to start that training away from the excitement of a dog park. Plus you need to teach them not to jump on anyone. When an adult says it is ok, tell them you appreciate that they don't mind, but your dog must learn not to jump on anyone because dogs see people as people and not so much as adults and children and you want to protect people of all sizes.